Saturday, August 17, 2013

grateful

Yes, even in Hokkaido, where we have snow for six months of the year, thissummer has been hot and humid beyond enduring. It hasn't been as bad as the rest of Japan, I admit, but we are much less used to this sort of thing, so I'm convinced we're more miserable than they are. Besides, most of us in Hokkaido don't have air conditioning. Okay, enough complaining.... I painted this one for an etegami call on the topic "gratitude." Thanks to Hokkaido's abundant snow, we have never had a water shortage. I am so very, very grateful for that.

It is always a blessing to be able to feel *gratitude* for anything - and everything! You KNOW I have been immersed in cold and greyness for our *Summer*...so, for me, heat is something to be grateful for...and, hot or cold weather, water is a real blessing...we all, humans, animals, plants - need this! Your drawing is powerful...

What a lovely little painting. I know I don't visit often enough, but I always enjoy seeing what you've been doing. Each painting is a little gem, and the little sayings either make me laugh or make me think. Thanks!

A Beginner's Guide to Etegami

what is etegami?

Etegami (e= "picture"; tegami= "letter/message") are simple drawings accompanied by a few apt words. They are usually done on postcards so that they can be easily mailed off to one's friends. Though etegami has few hard-and-fast rules, traditional tools and materials include writing brushes, sumi ink, blocks of water-soluble, mineral-based pigments called gansai, and washi postcards that have varying degrees of "bleed." They often depict some ordinary item from everyday life, especially items that bring a particular season to mind.